by Luxie Ryder
“The producer called me in to discuss my new assignment. Why are you here?”
Ty opened his mouth to answer but Diana’s brittle laugh cut him off. “Oh, this is too perfect,” she said, returning their confused gazes. “Let me guess…your new assignment is a show involving high school kids making a musical?”
Sherrie’s stomach hit her boots. She knew instantly they were going to be the stars of the show. Questions about why the other dancers were no longer involved almost burst from her lips before she realized it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was she had six long weeks stretching ahead of her where Ty and the dirty Diana would be there for every second.
She gazed at Ty, biting her tongue against all she wanted to hurl at him. Why involve her in his stupid game with his partner, for one, and how dare he ruin her first proper job with the studio. Sherrie nearly blew up in their faces, when the door to the producer’s office opened.
An hour later, she was in her car heading for FairbornHigh School, grateful that at least she wasn’t instructed to give Ty and Diana a ride. Chelwood Studios provided a limo for ‘the talent’ and Sherrie thanked God for small mercies. Some time to catch her breath and clear her mind wouldn’t go amiss.
The meeting hadn’t been an easy one for her. Sherrie was at the mercy of the stars of the show. They got to choose who worked with them and, since the cast changed, Ty and Diana had to be consulted. Of course, they said they’d be happy with whoever the studio provided, but Sherrie knew they both had their reasons for approving her. It seemed obvious that Diana couldn’t resist the sport of making Sherrie feel useless and pathetic, but Ty was a mystery. Why would he want her around his girlfriend? It didn’t make sense.
The effort of ignoring them both while listening to her boss near wore her out, and she practically ran from the room when the meeting ended. The obligatory mocking laughter Diana always produced, followed in the wake of her escape.
With FairbornHigh School closed to the public during the summer months, the studio had taken it over. Parking areas were set up for the crew, while the playground held craft services, production vehicles and trailers situated for the costume and make-up departments. Sherrie found hers quickly and opened the door, shocked to find Ty waiting inside.
“Don’t leave,” he said, jumping to his feet. “We need to talk.”
“Where’s the charming Diana?”
He thrust his hands into the pocket of his jeans and sighed in irritation. “What the hell is it with you two?”
Sherrie resisted the urge to kick him out. “You might remember, I didn’t have a problem with her until I caught you two talking about me.”
Ty blushed. “About that—”
“Do you mind if we don’t rehash what turned out to be one of the most humiliating experiences of my life?” Sherrie glared at him, not caring that she’d revealed far more than she wanted to. “It was bad enough to find out that you two were an item, but then you added insult to injury by allowing her to talk about me that way.”
Ty dragged his hand through his hair. “First, there was never anything between me and her, and second, how the hell was I supposed to stop her? I can’t exactly force her to shut up.”
“Why lie then, if you had no reason to hide that you spent the night with me?” She took a step towards him, determined to get the answers she needed to put her mind at rest. “Why didn’t you call?”
“I went out of town on business Monday night so there was no point calling if I couldn’t see you. Jesus, Sherrie, it’s barely been three days and for your information, I don’t even have your number. And about Diana, I didn’t want her to know, that’s all. What happened between us is private and I have no intention of explaining myself to her.”
Sherrie tried hard not to voice her real fear about his reason for denying her, but she failed. A lump in her throat nearly stopped the words. She forced them out in a pained whisper. “Was it my leg? Was that the reason you wouldn’t admit to being with me?”
Ty’s hands rose heavenward as if asking for some divine intervention, before they dropped to his sides, a look of sheer disbelief crossing his face. “Fuck, Sherrie. Is that the kind of guy you think I am?”
She scrubbed away a traitorous tear with the back of her fist. “All I know is what I see and hear, Ty. You pretend nothing happened between us while the woman you are dating—according to the gossip—is mocking my disability. What in hell did you expect me to think?”
“Not that,” Ty said, turning to leave. “No way in hell did I imagine that.”
He jumped out of the trailer and slammed the door, making the whole cabin shake before ripping it open again and leaning back in. “You know, bigotry goes both ways. Assuming I wouldn’t admit to sleeping with you because I’m embarrassed about your disability, is as bad as someone telling you that you shouldn’t have the same rights as others.”
Sherrie closed in on him, fighting the urge to scream. “Don’t you dare put this on me! You were the one who lied.”
“Yeah, well, you are the one looking for a reason to push me away. I guess your leg is as good of an excuse as any.”
Ty shut the door seconds before the cup she threw hit his head. It smashed against the trailer door, shattering into pieces. Sherrie was pretty sure he’d heard her scream of rage and frustration, and possibly the cup hitting the door. She waited for a second to see if he’d come back and defend himself. He didn’t. As the minutes stretched on, the ball of anger in the pit of her stomach morphed into something else. Sherrie put it down to hunger, refusing to accept that the feeling in her gut was telling her Ty might’ve been right.
Chapter Four
Three days later, with the production in full swing and Sherrie running ragged by the demands of the team, the tension between Sherrie, Ty and Diana came to a head.
She lost her grip on the armful of costumes she’d been carrying and muttered under her breath as she turned around to scoop them up from the floor behind her. The kids whined and bitched about the costumes for their routine, insisting they have cool stuff like studs and faux razor blades attached—she was dog tired from making them. Working endlessly for the benefit of a bunch of know-it-all teenagers, who she suspected were mocking her behind her back, wasn’t Sherrie’s idea of fun. But she’d lived through worse—the well meaning pity she’d endured from family and friends after her accident. The kids would get bored eventually.
As Sherrie stepped back around the corner to check if she’d missed anything, a disturbance nearby made her pause. The image that greeted her sent the rest of the clothes falling to the floor as she broke into a painful run.
The students standing around watching the spectacle parted as she pushed her way through the crowd to the center. Ty had one of the young men pinned to the wall, the teenager’s shirt bunched in his hands and his furious face inches from the terrified kid. The youngster, she guessed to be no more than seventeen, was the same size as Ty and tried to shrug him off, but the kid had no idea how strong the dancer would be. Ty was muttering something through clenched teeth, and the guy kept shaking his head, denying whatever it was he was being accused of.
“I was just joking…it didn’t hurt nobody. She didn’t hear me.”
“Yeah? Well, I heard you. That means you got a problem with me now.”
The kid tried to free himself again. “I’m not the only one who laughed at her, why are you picking on me?”
“I guess you were the only one stupid enough to let me catch you doing it.” Ty leaned in closer. “If I ever catch you laughing at Sherrie again, you’d better start running.”
“Ty!” Sherrie didn’t know why she called out to him. Maybe she was shocked at the idea of Ty beating up a kid over something that didn’t bother her…or just that he cared enough to do it? Whatever the reason had been, he let go of the kid as soon as he heard her voice. “Ty? What in hell are you doing to him?”
Ty turned back to the young man. “You breathe a word of this to anyone, I
’m gonna come looking for you, understand? Now get out of here.”
The kid sauntered off with a smirk, probably thinking of ways to reinstate some of the street cred he’d lost in front of his still shocked and silent friends. They wandered off towards the yard, a few of them looking back at Ty with a mixture of awe and sardonic amusement.
“Don’t start with me again.” Ty raised his hand and turned on his heel, heading in the opposite direction of the kids. Sherrie tried to follow him but his long, fluid gait covered more ground than her slow, difficult one. Still in pain from her impromptu dash down the hall earlier, Sherrie was barely managing to keep up.
“Wait up! Ty…stop. I can’t walk as fast as you.”
His stride faltered and he came to a stop, turning shamed eyes her way. “Sorry,” he muttered.
“No need to apologize. It’s you I’m worried about, not me.” Sherrie reached to place a hand on his shoulder but Ty ducked away. The rejection hurt more than she expected, and Sherrie wondered if he’d felt the same way when she’d pushed him away before. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. He looked ready to bolt. “What was that all about?”
“The kid was being a smart-ass. I shouldn’t let it get to me.” He wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“He was talking about me?” Sherrie’s voice trembled on the last word and the prickle of on-coming tears overwhelmed her.
Ty’s eyebrows bunched in anger and he looked down the hall towards the retreating students like he wanted to go after them again. Sherrie put a hand on his arm, confused herself as to why she was almost in tears. The tension between her and Ty upset her far more than any mindless taunt ever could. “Let it go. I know they’ve been showing off to each other and acting stupid. It’ll blow over. It always does.”
“You get this kind of thing a lot?”
Sherrie smiled, touched rather than annoyed by his naivety. Not everyone was as kind as he was. “It happens. Not often, but still.”
“And you thought I was the same…” Ty dropped her gaze, trying to hide how much her words hurt him. The finality in his tone tore at her heart.
“Look, I shouldn’t have said that. I was just—”
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
The rest of Sherrie’s answer was lost beneath the shrill tones of Ty’s dance partner. Diana laughed and walked towards him, putting on a strut fit for any catwalk. If Sherrie had any doubt Diana was mocking her before, she didn’t now. Still, she couldn’t blame the woman for reveling in her ability. Diana was a gifted and talented dancer as well as a beautiful woman—but a twisted, bitchy soul lie beneath the pretty exterior and Sherrie wasn’t envious of that. Not at all.
Diana’s annoying laugh grated Sherrie’s nerves. The woman spoke only to Ty, intent on ignoring Sherrie altogether. “Oh, I see you found your little friend.”
Ty turned a look of such disgust and fury on Diana that she visibly blanched. She smoothed an imaginary stray hair back in place and dropped his gaze. When she spoke again, she’d lost a little of her superior attitude. “We’re needed for rehearsals.”
“Okay.” Ty turned his back on Diana, dismissing her to focus again on Sherrie. His gaze told her he had much yet to say, but not in front of Diana. Unable to stop herself, Sherrie raised a brow in stark amusement. Ty never turned his back on his dance partner.
“Ty?” Diana chirped again, making it clear to everyone she wasn’t going to move away and give them a chance to conclude their conversation. “We’re needed in—”
“I know! You told me already.” A nerve ticked in Ty’s jaw and Sherrie could see he was losing the slim grip on his temper again.
A sudden weariness stole her heart, and she lost interest in whatever it was Ty wanted to say. This particular soap opera had gone on long enough. “Okay, well, I have work to do. I’ll catch you guys later.”
Sherrie headed for the sanctity of her trailer, grateful for her own little private space to retreat and think about things. But the gods had no intention of leaving her in peace. Less than an hour after she’d escaped, the director sent a runner to find her, insisting she come to the set immediately and fix Diana’s dress.
“The bitch probably ripped it on purpose,” Sherrie muttered, gathering up her stuff and heading for the door. By the time she reached Diana’s dressing room, Sherrie knew without a single doubt, all it would take to send her over the edge was one more simpering smile or bitchy comment. If Diana fucked with her again, Sherrie intended to let her know in no uncertain terms what she thought of her. And if she lost her job, so be it. The satisfaction would be worth the pain.
Chapter Five
The pep talk wasn’t necessary. When she got to Diana’s dressing room, Sherrie found it empty and the torn dress thrown onto a chair. The careless way the dancers treated the hand-made costumes pulled at the seams of her sanity. Having to sit and mend something that should never have been damaged in the first place, irritated Sherrie more than usual. But half an hour of quiet time spent sewing the dress calmed her down, and by the time she went to find Diana and let her know, Sherrie’s anger had dissipated.
She pushed the gymnasium door open and slipped silently into the room. The students lined the edges of the basketball court, all watching silently as Ty and Diana rehearsed in front of them. Sherrie’s gaze landed on the couple wrapped in each other’s arms in the center of the room. A lump formed in her throat and tears welled in her eyes at the beauty of the sight before her.
Ty wore only a thin vest, a pair of black track pants, and his feet were bare. Diana’s red leotard fit her like a second skin and her hair was swept up in an effortlessly sexy tumble, the kind Sherrie could never quite perfect. At that very moment, Ty had his hand splayed over Diana’s stomach as her back pressed into his chest. Her ass nestled lovingly against his thighs. His pelvis mirrored the action of his partner’s in a sinuous roll of their hips that made it seem as if they were joined.
The lush Latin beat driving their passionate Rumba echoed around the hall as the couple turned away and back to each other, never losing their synchronicity, connected at all times by the rhythm of the music.
Sherrie’s tears dried as her envy of Diana’s grace and beauty was chased away by the wave of raw sensuality emanating from Ty. His tightly corded muscles gleamed in the soft light of the gym, each sinew and bulge accentuated by a glistening sheen of sweat. The longer strands of Ty’s dark blond hair clung to his forehead and temples and the light flush on his cheeks reminded Sherrie of how he’d looked the last time he’d made love to her. The ache between her thighs reminded her of how he’d made her feel, and the sweat shimmering on his corded muscles also made her vividly recall his glistening body moving over hers. Sherrie’s knees began to shake and she knew she had to sit down before she fell down.
She tried to slip over to the bench without catching his eye but the movement brought his gaze to hers…and from that moment on, it never flinched. Each time he thrust against Diana, his gaze burned with a heat that left Sherrie in no doubt it was her he wanted to grind into—not the woman in his arms. Whenever the dance required that Ty turn his back on Sherrie, she couldn’t help but watch the play of muscles across his back and shoulders, nor his tight, sexy ass. When she dragged her gaze back to his face as he turned to Sherrie again, he gazed at her with a dark hunger she couldn’t deny.
Ty spun Diana away from him, out to the end of his reach, then flicked his wrist to send her spinning in to stop with her back against his chest. His strong hands slid down her arms, clasping her wrists to lift them above his head. One of Diana’s hands reached back to loop around his neck as Ty ran his finger down over the soft flesh of her inner bicep, continuing on to graze her ribs with his palm.
Sherrie bit her lip on a groan, closing her eyes against the image driving her crazy with a mixture of jealousy and lust. She heard Ty mutter something and she opened her eyes to find him striding away from Diana to grab his towel from the floor.
“T
y, what are you doing?” Diana’s voice broke the spell, cutting through the heated atmosphere in the gym with its icy tone.
“I need a break,” he said with a shrug. Ty held the towel in front of him casually bunched in his hands and walked towards Sherrie.
When he’d crossed enough of the floor so nobody but Sherrie could see him, he flung the towel around his neck. Sherrie looked down…and understood Ty’s sudden need for a time out. An erection strained the front of his pants, clearly visible and outlined in excruciating detail in the shiny black Lycra. The last of Sherrie’s breath left her lungs and she dragged her gaze back up to his, only to be left reeling from the raw heat in his eyes.
“We need to talk…now.” Ty reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. He propelled them through the door and halfway down the corridor before she thought to stop and ask him what he was doing.
Ty let go of her hand and pushed forward, using his chest to back her against the wall. “You know, for a smart woman, you sure ask some damn fool questions.”
